New to bents this year. I ordered unpadded shorts from several makes. Here are my results:
Road Runner 6" inseam shorts - Road Runner makes great gear, but they measure an inseam differently. I'm no tailor, but basically subtract 2" from whatever they state. Their 6" are actually 4"
. I'm sending the 6" back to get the 8" version.
Aerotech unpadded shorts - excellent, exactly what I was looking for. Good length great fit, and made in the U.S. of A.
Kucharik Recumbent Skin shorts - too long...they go down almost to my kneecaps. I am 6', typical biker physique. I had ordered a medium and a large, one for me and one for a friend who's 6'3". They were too long for him too. They're going back. FTR, John at Kucharik mentioned that they could be shortened for me. Nice to see a smaller biz going to those lengths to please the customer. Try getting that kind of service from PI.
Champion compression shorts - cheapies from Gander Mountain, good length but leave little to the imagination...definitely wearing underwear with these. But they're a good fit.
Pearl Izumi - I cut out the pad from a lightly padded pair of old shorts after trying unsuccessfully to undo the seam...man that stitching is tight. They should work, and again...underwear is a must.
After much [mostly online] shopping, the term "compression" short has a rather broad meaning. Some could work as an external garment [and therefore as biking/receumbent shorts], others definitely not.